Leftovers? Why, I think I will

October 19, 2016

This is merely ONE of the marvelous things you can do with a piece of pig shoulder you have carefully nurtured in the oven for hours, in a meticulously constructed sauce, basting regularly….

Or, on the other hand, what you can do with pulled pork from the big honkin’ shoulder roast you coated in pastrami rub, refrigerated overnight, and then slapped in a Dutch oven, poured a bottle of beer in the bottom, stuck in a quartered onion, and forgot it in the oven for five or six hours.

A pork shoulder roast is a versatile thing. This one, after an initial excellent dinner, has provided me with an array of sandwiches, the most remarkable of which is above. Namely, pulled pork, topped with caramelized onions and grated Gruyere.

I had made rolls for Sunday dinner, and purposely made them big enough they’d serve as buns for future sandwiches. These were about three inches in diameter, or about the size of the smaller hamburger buns (not sliders) you buy at the grocery. They were made via the Miss Mary Lloyd yeast roll recipe I’ve posted a couple of times on here, just kneaded a bit longer. These are my go-to for buns, either the burger or sub variety.

Started off caramelizing a couple of onions. I halved them, topped and tailed them, peeled them, and sliced them thinly, then cooked in a combo of butter and olive oil for about 15 minutes, until they were a nice golden brown.

I split a couple of the buns for me and Child A, and toasted them lightly before smearing them with a healthy dollop of Hellman’s mayo (because, well, Hellman’s). Piled pork on top. Divided the onions between the sandwiches. Grated a couple of ounces of Gruyere and packed it down on top of the onions. Stuck the top half on, and secured the whole mess with a toothpick for the next step.

And this is why I love my Cuisinart combo convection-steam oven. If you have a spare $200 lying around, get you one of these. It’s possibly the finest appliance I own, although the Anova sous vide circulator and the Instant Pot come REAL close.

Plunk these babies — carefully, as they’ll shed pork and cheese, and you don’t want to lose ANY of that goodness — onto the baking pan and into the oven. Set it to 350 on the steam bake cycle for 15 minutes, punch “start,” and walk away. When it beeps, grab your sandwich, marvel at the gooey, oozy deliciousness, and dig in.

I had mine with a caprese of some of the last tomatoes, fresh homemade ricotta, and balsamic glaze. And a handful of potato chips and some pickles. It’s been a long time since I had that good a lunch.

The rest of the leftover pork roast is going into posole today to go to church for soup supper tonight. You ‘n y’mama ‘n ’em are welcome to come on. We feed whoever shows up.